Sensi Valley could add 45 jobs to the area

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Sean Trainor, founder of Sensi Valley, a proposed cultivation-to-consumption facility in the Dinsmore area, speaks to the Humboldt County Planning Commission on Thursday night about the facility. (Ruth Schneider — The Times-Standard)

The Humboldt County Planning Commission voted 4-2 to advance a proposed cannabis cultivation-to-consumption facility in the Dinsmore area Thursday night.

“We feel we are operating in an economically disadvantaged community that has been disproportionately affected by the war on drugs,” said Sensi Valley founder Sean Trainor.

The proposed project would be on more than 13 acres of land adjacent to state Route 36 and would include a commercial cannabis nursery, as well as processing, manufacturing and distribution facilities.

Dozens of members of the public, state and local officials and the company itself spoke during the hours-long meeting Thursday night. The company was seeking a recommendation to the county board of supervisors to make a General Plan amendment and a zone reclassification as well as approve two conditional use permits and four special permits.

Members of local environmental groups and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife cited concerns about the project, although at least one Fish and Wildlife employee noted the agency supports the project in general.

The site sits in a Van Duzen River floodplain and that was a key complaint. However, a floodplain ordinance exists in Humboldt County which allows for development in accordance to government and environmental regulations.

“It’s not like a 100-year storm event is going to flood this thing,” said CDFW employee David Manthorne. “It’s more like a 20-year storm event is going to flood that.”

He urged moving the project away from the river and closer to the highway.

“The river is going to turn it back into a river area at some point,” said Scott Greacen of Friends of the Eel River.

Concerns were also cited about riparian habitat and a species that most admitted had only been sighted twice in the area.

“Rezoning to allow new construction in an active floodplain … is a threat to listed fish and water quality. The homework has not been done,” Greacen said.

“If we keep thinking there are rainbows and unicorns running around out here, its a sad thing,” Trainor stated in clear frustration.

But members of the cannabis compliance group assert the industry would have a significant beneficial economic impact on the community.

“This is exactly the type of project that we envisioned when we started the ordinance process three years ago,” said Natalynne DeLapp of the Humboldt County Growers Alliance. “By rezoning these sites, by being able to remediate — that’s great.”

She also noted there are hundreds of already permitted cannabis businesses within a 25-mile radius that will need to have processing and distribution services, which otherwise might need to be sought outside of the county.

A local Dinsmore resident who did not identify himself by name said the facility could be critical to the area.

“It’s been a long time since that mill’s been closed,” he said of the mill that shuttered in 1978. “There’s not a lot of jobs there. But that mill is sorely missed. There’s a lot of people who need work.”

The project could mean as many as 45 or more jobs in the Dinsmore area, according to the project description in the planning commission’s agenda packet.

Supervisor-elect Steve Madrone also spoke in favor of the project, although during his campaign he often spoke out against cannabis issues.

“I support the project in general,” Madrone said. “As a county, we need these facilities. … I think there’s a great opportunity for compromise.”

More than two hours after the discussion began, Commissioner Ben Shepherd, moved for a vote on the issue, which was quickly seconded.

Both Shepherd and Commissioner Alan Bongio both stated support for the project.

Ruth Schneider is the city editor of the Times-Standard and is published in a dozen newspapers in Northern California. She has two degrees in journalism, including a master's degree from Columbia University's School of Journalism. She writes about LGBTQ issues, goings on in Sacramento and covers general news as needed. In her spare time, she yo-yos, reads and spends time on local beaches. She can be found at @RuthOUTspoken on Twitter and by phone at 707-441-0520.